Bailey Hill

Foundations of Education 1
Iowa Core Assignment

8th grade social studies:

Direct Quote Relefction:

The 8th grade social studies teacher that I am observing, Mr. Himan said about the Iowa Core that,
“There’s too many standards you can’t do them all well”. This is something that I’ve heard from many
other teachers as well. Including Profe, the freshman spanish teacher. When I think about what Mr.
Himan said about the Iowa Core to an extent I agree. I think that from what I’ve seen from doing this
project it’s a great base for teacher to use. However I think that there are too many standers in for a
teacher to teach well in the time they are given with their students at least at the 8th grade social
studies level.

Progression Paragraph:
7th grade social studies standards don’t have a dramatic difference from the 8th grade standards. The
difference between in the standards under Civics and Government is mostly just a lower level and
preparation to go into 8th grade and dive deeper into understanding how government works. For
example a 7th grade social studies standard under Civics and Government is “Describe the roles of
political, civil, and economic organizations in shaping people's lives”. What I think is basically the next
level of that standard in 8th grade is “Explain the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties,
and the media in a variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts.” The transition between the
two is just the diving into a deeper understanding. The transition to the next level in 9th grade social
studies Civics and Government is again just a diving into a deeper understanding. One of the standards I
felt was an equivalent of the past two examples but at a 9th grade level was “Evaluate the powers and
responsibilities of local, state, tribal, national, and international civic and political institutions, how they
interact and the role of government in maintaining order.” Each standard as the grade levels progress
under this category just build onto the prior knowledge and expand on the same concept but at a
deeper level than before.

Civics and Government:

● Explain the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, and the media in a
variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts. (21st century skills) (SS.8.13.)
○ Have the students make an infographic explaining the functions of the
government.
○ Have the students get into groups with a printed list of all the different parts of
the government and explain how they think government should work and run
and what they think that each branch does and what role they play. Then show
the students a presentation of what the government actually looks like and have
them compare and contrast what they had.
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Foundations of Education 2
● Examine and explain the origins, functions and structure of government with reference
to the US Constitution and other founding documents, branches of government,
bureaucracies, and other systems and its effectiveness on citizens. (21st century skills)
(SS.8.14)
○ Have students explore this website interactive constitution and write down 3 big
take aways to share with the class (use as an intro to this topic)
○ Create a mock-government in class and try to get a bill passed. Have students
act as all of the parts of the government needed in order to get a bill passed.
Reflect on the activity after and explain how different rights that different parts
of the government was exercised.
Geography:
● Explain how global interconnections influenced early American history. (SS.8.20.)
○ Make a chart using a world map and using color coded lines to notes on the back
explaining how global interconnections influenced early American history.
○ Have each student pick one event or person was linked to global
interconnections influenced early American history and have them create a short
presentation to share with the class explaining it.

History:
● Explain how and why prevailing social, cultural, and political perspectives changed
during early American history.(SS.8.22)
○ Watch videos as a class about how America came to be and the making of
America and take guided notes.
○ Have students spilt into groups and create a presentation covering one of the 3
subtopics to present to the class for group discussion and learning.
Iowa:
● Examine the evolution of the function and structure of government in Iowa. (SS.8.22)
○ Have a field trip and visit the state capital and see where everything is done and
how the history of Iowa played into it the making of it.
○ Have students write a short, one page reflective paper about how things they
observed at the state capital relate to at least 3 things learned in class and cite
evidence from either notes, old assignments or the textbook.
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Foundations of Education 3

English 11:

Direct Quote Reflection:

My 11th grade english teacher said when asked about the Iowa core that, “I understand why they did it,
but I feel that not everything is equal and what it causes us to do is go wider and not deeper. It doesn’t
distinguish between what most important and not as important.” I noticed that her response is similar
to what my 8th grade social studies teacher said and what my 9th grade spanish teacher said in a
previous assignment. Based off what my teacher said she thinks that the Iowa Core causes teachers to
have to cover many broad topics and doesn’t really allow teacher to go into depth of the standers they
feel are more important. I feel that as a teacher in the future I would agree with what my teachers have
said about it being a good base but not a law of what the class needs to look like and that there needs to
be more flexibility for the teachers and what they teach.

Progression Paragraph:
The transition from 8th grade reading standards for literature to 9-10th grade to 11-12th grade are all
very simular. The 8th grande standard RL.8.1 states “Cite the textual evidence that most strongly
supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.” The RL.9-
10.1 states “Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.” The RL.11-12.1 states “Cite strong and thorough
textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the
text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.” The biggest change in these
standards from 8th to 9th and 10th are very small but there the biggest difference is the expectation of
the quality of textual evidence that you request cited and the inferences made from the text. At an 8th
grade level it is expected that you cite what you think is the most strongly supporting evidence, like a
“give it your best shot”. At a 9th grade level it is expected that you are citing strong evidene and making
those strong inferences as well. It shouldn’t be your best guess at this point, you should know what you
are doing. The big change in expectations between the 9th and 10th grade level to the 11th and 12th
grade level is that in 11th and 12th grade it is expected that you can be able to “determinie where the
text leaves matters uncertain” which is not expected at the 9th and 10th grade level.

Reading standards:
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Foundations of Education 4
● Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate
elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how
the characters are introduced and developed). (RL.11-12.3)
○ Have students write a reflective paper over themes or setting or character
development and use at least 5 quotes from the text.
○ Have students pick one character and have them write a summary using textual
support explaining the character in detail and how they did or didn’t deveolpe.
Extra points given if they write about someone who isn’t a main character yet
still provide quality work.
● Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the
text leaves matters uncertain. (RL.11-12.1)
○ Have students write a summary of a book and use at least 5 quotes from the text
to support their summary.
○ Pick one chapter or a short story and read as a class. Have each student pick one
quote from the text and write a 1 minute or less explanation as to the
importance of the quote to share with the class.
● Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development
over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to
produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.(RL.11-12.1)
○ Write a short summary or takes detailed notes to discuss in small group one of
the themes you found in the reading and how it played an important role in the
story (use with a story/book the class is all reading so everyone is on the same
page.)
○ Make a visual collage of all the themes you’ve found played an important part in
your independent reading book and presnet to the class a summary of the book
and explain your visual.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
● Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live
production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version
interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an
American dramatist) (RL.11-12.7)
○ Have the class read and “roughly” act out one of Shakespeare’s plays. Assign
roles to each of the students and use props to make it fun.
○ Have students write their own dramas and act them out for the class in small
groups.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
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Foundations of Education 5
● By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and
poems, in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as
needed at the high end of the range. Read on-level text, both silently and orally, at an
appropriate rate with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
○ Have students read a book as a class at the desired level and have group
dissucsions that students take turns leading at chapter checkin points.
○ Have small assessment over the reading homework at the start of class to ensure
that students are doing the reading and understand what they are reading.